Plastic Deformation

• Plastic Deformation is permanent and non-recoverable!

• Breaking of bonds with original atom

neighbors and then the re-forming of bonds
with new neighbors

Upon removal of the stress, they do not return

to their original positions

Yield strength, σy
Proportional limit, P

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 Yield Strength, σy

Transition from elastic to plastic deformation is gradual

Yielding – Stress level at which noticeable plastic deformation has occurred.
Proportional limit – Initial departure from linearity of the curve and represents the
onset of plastic deformation on a microscopic level.

Units: MPa or psi

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 Tensile Testing

• Used to determine Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS), yield strength, %

elongation, Young’s modulus of elasticity
• The ends of a test specimen are fixed into the grips, one of which is attached to
the load cell

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 VMSE: Virtual Tensile Testing

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 Stress-strain curve of a ductile metal

• Elastic limit: The greatest stress

that a material can withstand without
any plastic deformation after
unloading

• Yield Strength: Stress at which the

material begins to deform plastically

A straight line is constructed parallel

to the elastic portion of the stress–
strain curve at some specified strain
offset, usually 0.002

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 • Tensile strength (TS) or Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS): maximum load Pmax
divided by the original cross-section area A0 of the specimen
• All deformation to this point is uniform throughout the narrow region of the
tensile specimen

A small neck begins to form, and all subsequent

deformation is confined at this neck

Fracture strength =
stress at fracture

Fracture ultimately
occurs at the neck

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 Example

From the tensile stress–strain behavior for the brass specimen shown in Figure,
determine the following:

(a) The modulus of elasticity

(b) The yield strength at a strain offset
of 0.002
(c) The maximum load that can be
sustained by a cylindrical specimen
having an original diameter of 12.8
mm (0.505 in.)
(d) The change in length of a
specimen originally 250 mm (10 in.)
long that is subjected to a tensile
stress of 345 MPa (50,000 psi)

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 Ductility: Measure of the degree of plastic deformation that has been sustained at
fracture
• % elongation greater than 5%
• Well defined yield point

Brittleness: Material that experiences very little or no plastic deformation upon

fracture
• % elongation less than 5%
• Do not exhibit an identifiable yield point

Ductile failure – Brittle failure –

Cup & cone flat surface

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 Percent elongation (%EL) is the percentage of plastic strain at fracture

𝑙𝑙𝑓𝑓 − 𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑜
% 𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸 = × 100
𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑜

Percent reduction in area (%RA) is defined as

lo Ao
Af lf
𝐴𝐴𝑓𝑓 − 𝐴𝐴𝑜𝑜
% 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 = × 100
𝐴𝐴𝑜𝑜

Tensile stressed

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 Resilience

• Ability of a material to absorb energy during elastic deformation and then,

recovering same upon unloading.
• Resilience specified by modulus of resilience, Ur = Area under stress-strain curve
to yielding
• Units: J/m3
• Resilient material – high Yield strength and low modulus of elasticity
• Used in spring applications

1 1 𝜎𝜎𝑦𝑦 𝜎𝜎𝑦𝑦 2
𝑈𝑈𝑟𝑟 = 𝜎𝜎𝑦𝑦 𝜖𝜖𝑦𝑦 = 𝜎𝜎𝑦𝑦 =
2 2 𝜖𝜖𝑦𝑦 2𝐸𝐸

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 Toughness

• Measure of the ability of a material to absorb energy up to fracture

• Represented by total area under the stress-strain curve—units of energy per

unit volume

• Ductile material are tougher than brittle ones

small toughness (ceramics)

Tensile stress, σ

large toughness (metals)

very small toughness

(unreinforced polymers)

Tensile strain, ε

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 Example

From the Tensile Stress–Strain Data for Several Hypothetical Metals;

(a) Which will experience the greatest percentage reduction in area? Why?
(b) Which is the strongest? Why?
(c) Which is the stiffest? Why?

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 True Stress-Strain curve

It is based on the instantaneous dimension of the specimen

• In Engineering stress-strain curve, stress drops down after necking since it is
based on the original area
• In true stress-strain curve, the stress however increases after necking since the
cross-sectional area of the specimen decreases rapidly after necking

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 𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿
• True stress, σT = = 𝜎𝜎 1 + 𝜖𝜖
𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼 𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴
where 𝜎𝜎, 𝜖𝜖 are engineering stress and strain respectively

𝐿𝐿 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝐿𝐿
• True Strain, εT = ∫𝐿𝐿 = ln = ln 1 + 𝜖𝜖
0 𝑙𝑙 𝐿𝐿0

𝐴𝐴 𝐷𝐷
= ln = 2 ln
𝐴𝐴0 𝐷𝐷0

or engineering strain (ε) = 𝑒𝑒 𝜖𝜖𝑇𝑇 − 1

The volume of the specimen is assumed to be constant during plastic deformation.

[A0L0 = AL]. It is valid till the neck formation

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 Elastic Strain Recovery after Plastic Deformation

Upon release of the load, some fraction of the total deformation is recovered as
elastic strain.
The magnitude of this elastic strain, which is regained during unloading,
corresponds to the strain recovery.

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 Hardness

It is a measure of material’s resistance to localized plastic deformation(e.g. a small

indentation or a scratch)

Advantages:
• Simple and inexpensive
• Non-destructive
• Other mechanical properties often may be estimated from hardness data, such
as tensile strength

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 Qualitative hardness is described by Mohs scale, which ranged from 1 on the soft
end for talc to 10 for diamond

Quantitative hardness test

• Macro-hardness test
• Rockwell hardness test
• Brinell hardness test
• Vickers hardness test

• Micro-hardness test
• Knoop Micro-hardness test
• Vickers Micro-hardness test

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 Measurement of Hardness

Rockwell Hardness
• Several scales—combination of load magnitude, indenter size
Examples:
– Rockwell A Scale – 60 kg load/diamond indenter
– Superficial Rockwell 15T Scale – 15 kg load/ 1/16 in. indenter
• Rockwell hardness designation: (hardness reading) HR
Examples: 57 HRA; 63 HR15T
• Hardness range for each scale: 0 -130 HR; useful range: 20 - 100 HR

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 Brinell Hardness
• Single scale
• Brinell hardness designation: (hardness reading) HB

• P = load (kg)
500 kg ≤ P ≤ 3000 kg (500 kg increments)
• Relationships—Brinell hardness & tensile strength
TS (psi) = 500 x HB
TS (MPa) = 3.45 x HB

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 Variability of Material Properties

• Measured material properties—always scatter in values for same material

• Statistical treatments
• Typical value—take average value, for some parameter x:
∑𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑖=1 𝑥𝑥𝑖𝑖
𝑥𝑥̅ =
𝑛𝑛
n = number of measurements
xi = specific measured value

• Degree of scatter—use standard deviation, s

𝑛𝑛 2 1/2
�𝑖𝑖=1(𝑥𝑥𝑖𝑖 −𝑥𝑥)̅
𝑠𝑠 =
𝑛𝑛 − 1

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 Design/Safety Factors

• Because of design uncertainties allowances must be made to protect

against unanticipated failure
• For structural applications, to protect against possibility of failure—
use working stress, σw, and a factor of safety, N

Yield strength

Depending on application,
N is between 1.2 and 4

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 Example

A cylindrical rod, to be constructed from a steel that has a yield strength of 310
MPa, is to withstand a load of 220,000 N without yielding. Assuming a value of 4
for N, specify a suitable bar diameter.

Solving for the rod diameter d yields

d = 0.060 m = 60 mm

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 Summary of Mechanical Properties for Metals

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